N.J. teachers converge on Trenton to oppose pension changes

Tony Kurdzuk/The Star-LedgerA large line of NJEA teachers union members winds around the corner from the entrance to the Assembly Chamber all the way to the Governor's Office at the State House this morning as the members wait to watch the vote in the Assembly on the pension bills this afternoon.TRENTON -- With the Assembly set to take a final vote on three bills that would make broad changes to public worker pensions and benefits, dozens of school workers from across the state lined the halls of the Statehouse, urging lawmakers to slow down and take a second look at the bills.

Most of the changes in the bills would affect future workers, but current teachers and workers would be required to contribute at least 1.5 percent of their salary toward their health care costs. Gov. Chris Christie has said he would sign the bills as soon as they are passed.

Teachers and other unionized workers have pressed for an array of amendments, but the bills passed an Assembly committee on Thursday unchanged from language passed last month by the Senate.

Assembly members walked swiftly through the corridors as teachers called out, asking them to slow down, consider the amendments, and "please think of our kids."

"We don't like the rules being changed in the middle of the game," said Jack Wilson, vice president of the Manchester Township Education Association and a teacher of chemistry and physics. "That's not what America's about."

Teachers, who said they had taken the day off to come to Trenton, said there was a lot of worry among the many colleagues who were not in the capitol about the security of their pensions moving forward.

"What's going to be the next promise in five years?" said Patricia Goley, a chemistry teacher at Manchester Township High School.

Goley said she had prepared a lesson plan over the weekend for the substitute teacher.

"They're covered," she said of her students. "They're not watching a video."

Several said they had left private sector jobs offering much higher salaries to take teaching jobs.

"It's not a lot of money," said Carol Kiersnowski, an occupational therapist for learning disabled children in preschool through sixth grade with Berkeley Township.

The health care proposal seemed particularly unfair to some, because it would require all to pay the same percentage of salary, no matter what kinds of benefits they received or the size of their family.

"There's not any equitable factor in there," said Patricia Kelly, a basic skills teacher with East Rutherford.

State workers protest pension bills and budget cutsTwo days after New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie announced widespread cutbacks and layoffs in his 2011 budget, members of the state's largest state workers union held protests around the state. Workers also protested a series of bills in the legislature that would make their pensions less generous.